Paul Howes: a man with backbone

Many commentators are seeing Paul Howes as a potential threat to Bill Shorten but I reckon Paul Howes is a bigger threat to the Coalition and Tony Abbott. But not now. Howes is playing a much longer game. There are lots of examples where patience has been a formidable political weapon; think Mao Zedong or John Howard.

Wednesday's speech by Paul Howes, calling for a "grand compact" between unions, business and government, will annoy some from his own side of politics. But those critics are most likely to come from the left of the Labor Party. Howes is from the dominant right of the Labor Party. He is slap back in the middle of mainstream Australian politics.

His comments Wednesday about WorkChoices and wage pressures in the resource sector, stood on a few toes but he was just stating the obvious. He is building a reputation for speaking his mind.

I dealt with him last year. I had been working on the gas industry and was aware that Howes was speaking up for jobs and taking on the Green's nonsense claims on the use of new technology in the gas industry. I contacted him and the result was a joint article in the daily press; we made an odd pair but the policy was the issue not the personalities. The Australian public gets sick of personality politics and a politician who speaks his or her mind demonstrates the back bone to get the job done.

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You might say that positive comments from people like Tony Shepherd, BCA Chairman and head of the Audit Commission, are the kiss of death for Howes. Wrong; Howes is showing he can gather political support from both sides of politics. Now that really is a longer term threat to the Coalition.

My scenario is that Shorten will not last as leader. Unlike Howes, Shorten offers no strategy to put some distance between Labor and the Greens, to better control the left within Labor's caucus or to push the union movement to be more responsible on economic policy. Howes advocates a constructive approach. For him it's a big risk but putting yourself on the chopping board in a good cause is in the public interest. Maybe it's a glimpse that Australia might return to its earlier reformist modus operandi. Howes is a union boss with ambitions and a mainstream strategy that could take him a long way.

Peter Reith is a former Howard government Minister and a Fairfax columnist. In 2013, he finalised a Victorian government task force report on the eastern gas market and until recently he was active in a government relations firm, First State Advisors & Consultants Pty Ltd. He is a registered lobbyist for Bechtel Management Company Ltd and advises the company on the Australian Government’s military procurement policy.